KR20060049696A - A graphical method for navigating in a database of modelled objects - Google Patents

Abstract

In the present invention, a correlation database includes a relationship between a data set and data in the set. This data represents a three-dimensional modeled object. To navigate this database, the user selects the first data and the first relationship (12) and searches for the second data associated with the first data according to the first relationship. Then, the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the second data is displayed. Then, when the user selects a second relationship with one of the displayed objects (18), data indicative of the selected object is identified. Then, search for third data related to the identified second data according to the second relationship. Finally, the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the third data is displayed.

This way, the user can navigate the three-dimensional representation of objects represented in this database without having to understand the structure of the database.

Description

A GRAPHICAL METHOD FOR NAVIGATING IN A DATABASE OF MODELLED OBJECTS}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of computer programs and systems, and more particularly to a product life cycle management solution comprising a database of data representing modeled objects.

Many systems and programs are offered on the market for component or component assembly designs such as those provided by DASSAULT SYSTEMES under the trademark CATIA. These so-called computer-aided design (CAD) systems allow users to construct and manipulate three-dimensional (3D) models of objects or object assemblies. Thus, the CAD system provides a representation of the modeled object using edges or lines with faces in some cases. Lines or edges are represented in various ways, such as non-uniform rational B-Splines (NURBS). The CAD system manages parts or parts assemblies as modeled objects, which are essentially details of the geometry. Specifically, the CAD file includes details from which geometry is generated, and representations are generated from these geometries. These details, geometries and representations are stored in a single CAD file or multiple CAD files. The CAD system includes a graphical tool for presenting the modeled object to the designer, which is dedicated to the display of complex objects. The typical size of a file representing an object in the CAD system is in the megabyte range for each part, It contains thousands of these parts. The CAD system manages the model of the object stored in the electronic file.

In addition, there are product lifecycle management solutions (PLMs) such as those provided by Dassault Systèmes under the trademarks CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA, which are engineering hubs that constitute product engineering knowledge, and manufacturing hubs that constitute manufacturing engineering knowledge. And a business hub that enables business integration and connectivity into the engineering hub and manufacturing hub. All systems work together to open object model-linked products, processes to enable dynamic, knowledge-based product creation and decision support to drive optimized product regulation, manufacturing preparation and production and service. , Passing resources. This PLM solution includes a related database of products. The database includes a text data set and a relationship between the data. Data typically includes technical data related to the product, which is arranged in a data hierarchy and indexably searchable. Data often represents products that are modeled objects.

One problem with this PLM solution is that the user of the system wants to display the product and has a three-dimensional graphical representation of the product. Dasol Sisteme offers a series of CAD tools called DMU Review that allows users of the PML solution to process three-dimensional graphical representations of products managed within the system. These tools use a digital mock-up that is precomputed from the CAD representation of the product. These tools provide a limited set of graphical views of a product, and as specifically described with reference to FIG. 1, the DMU system typically provides a three-dimensional representation of the product. In a system sold under the name DMU Navigator, a user displays a three-dimensional representation of a complex product, which display further includes a hierarchical tree representing the various products or parts of the displayed product. 1 is a view of a display within a DMU Navigator. On the left side of this display is a tree 2 representing the database contents. As shown in FIG. 1, the root level of this tree specifies a complete assembly that is a vehicle in the example of FIG. 1. The next level of this tree represents a series of subassemblies containing root level products, such as air conditioning systems, engines, bodies, gearboxes and pedal systems. In addition, a series of applications is provided. This display represents a three-dimensional representation of this product. The user clicks on one of the subassemblies in the tree, such as a pedal system, which then displays a three-dimensional representation of this selected subassembly. The user expands the corresponding branch in the tree by clicking on the left "+" sign of the subassembly, for example, to display the parts that make up the subassembly, such as the brake pedal in the pedal system. Selecting one of the parts causes the system to display a three-dimensional representation of the relevant part.

The system provides the user with a three-dimensional representation of the product stored in the database. However, navigation in such a system can be further improved. With CAD tools such as DMU Review or DMU Navigator, users can navigate parts or products loaded into the system. Therefore, the scope of navigation is very limited because if the user wants to navigate all available products or assemblies, he or she must load all these products or assemblies because the hardware is limited and impossible due to job publication. to be.

Indeed, DMU products are limited in relation to the scope of navigation. Specifically, the user first opens a DMU session in which a limited list of parts and assemblies is defined. This allows the system to calculate and store the representation to be used later in the DMU navigation. Navigation is limited to the list of parts and assemblies defined when the DMU session is opened.

The user also wants to know where the brake pedal described above is used, ie in which model of the vehicle the brake pedal is embedded. Real CAD tools allow users to navigate products or parts primarily in terms of configuration relationships. The database used in Product Data Management (PDM) enables queries of all types of relationships between parts or products, and the navigation range of this database is the maximum possible. In fact, users can access all products, parts, and assemblies.

Nevertheless, the database does not allow the user to navigate easily because the data does not have a graphical representation. Data is identified by name or type, which names are not sufficiently related to the user to correctly identify the item being searched for.

Accordingly, there is a need for a solution that allows a user to navigate a correlation database representing a modeled object, particularly a database of products within a product lifecycle management system. Such a solution should preferably be user friendly and allow the user to locate and display the product easily and intuitively.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for navigating a database comprising a data set and relationships between the data in the set, the method comprising:

Selecting the first data and the first relationship,

Searching for second data related to the first data according to the first relationship;

Displaying a three-dimensional representation of the object represented by said second data,

Selecting a second relationship with one of the displayed objects,

Identifying data indicative of the selected object from the second data and searching for third data associated with the identified second data according to the second relationship;

Displaying a three-dimensional representation of the object represented by said third data.

In one embodiment, the data set in the database includes data representing a three-dimensional modeled object.

The displayed three-dimensional representation also includes a graphical representation of the relationship between the data representing the displayed object among the displayed objects.

In one embodiment, selecting the first data and the first relationship includes selecting a first layout, wherein the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the second data is a representation in the first layout. .

Further, in one embodiment, selecting one of the displayed objects and a second relationship includes selecting a second layout, wherein the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the third data is the second. Representation in a layout.

Then, the layout is

An in-line layout in which the objects are exploded along a line and represented in a perspective view,

-In-place layout,

An in-disk layout in which objects are distributed and exploded on the disk and represented in a perspective view,

 It is selected from the 2D layout of the 3D reduced representation.

Also, these layouts are animated.

In one embodiment, the relationships are:

-The relationship of "is composed of",

-"Where used" relationship,

A relationship of "in contact with",

-"In clash with" relationship,

Contains at least two of the "impact with" relationships.

The method further includes computing and storing the three-dimensional representation of the object.

In addition, the present invention includes a database, wherein the database,

A data set representing a three-dimensional modeled object,

A set of relationships between the data,

One or more three-dimensional representations of the modeled object,

A routine for navigating and visualizing the one or more three-dimensional representations of the modeled object.

Finally, the present invention provides a computer program for implementing the method.

The system implementing the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The invention applies to correlation databases such as those used in PLM solutions. Such databases, well known to those skilled in the art, include data sets and relationships between these data sets. This relationship is often indexed to speed up the search for the database. From a file perspective, this correlation database does not consist of a single file but uses a complex file system to store various data and their relationships. The data in this database represents the modeled object.

In a PLM solution, the data set is for example a product or a modeled object,

-Part number,

-Manufacturing or purchasing information about the product or modeled object,

-Version (history of design iterations, history of released versions).

Relationships in a PLM solution importantly include a "consisting of" relationship, which makes it possible to create a subassembly or cluster of products, such as the pedal subassembly displayed in FIG. In addition, a relationship includes a relationship of "used in" or "used in", which represents all subassemblies in which a given product is used. In addition, the relationship includes a “contact with” relationship, which allows the user to manage the contact between the various products in the database. In addition, the relationship includes a "conflicting with" relationship, which indicates that the various data describe objects that overlap each other. This helps to find design problems. Relationships include part dependencies, which represent an impact graph known as a "relational design" when a part is built from another part. Finally, relationships exist that represent the properties of the various data, including properties that are common in PLM solutions, such as the materials that form the object, the origin of the object, and the like.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the relationship of “consisting of” allows the system to list a list of products within a subassembly, such as a list of products forming a pedal system or a list of subassemblies forming a pedal system. It should be provided according to the number of. In the same embodiment, the relationship "used in" provides a list of subassemblies in which this product is used for a given product, e.g., referring to bolts, a user may have similar bolts in any subassembly. You can find out if it is being used. The relationship of "contacting" is self explanatory and requires no explanation.

The present invention allows a user to navigate the data by displaying a three-dimensional representation of the data. The displayed data is selected according to the various relationships that exist within that database.

2 is a flow chart of a process according to the present invention. 3-7 are embodiments of displays provided in the process of FIG. The embodiments of FIGS. 3 to 7 are associated with a database of various products that make up a house, that is, various products such as walls, doors, furniture elements included in the house.

In step 10, a database is provided.

In step 12, the user selects the first data and the first relationship. This is done using a tree such as the tree of FIG. In addition, the user can select the first data with the help of another type of user interface, for example by entering identification information for the first data, selecting the first data in a predetermined list, and the like. This relationship can be selected with the help of any kind of user interface such as a combo box, icon, specific command or right click.

Selecting the first data and the first correlation, the system displays a three dimensional representation of the object. This displayed object is actually the object represented in its database by the second data associated with the first data according to the first relationship. To this end, the system uses the database correlation feature to select in the database all data associated with the first object according to the first relationship. Once the second data is identified in step 14, the modeled object represented by this second data is displayed as shown in step 16.

In the proposed embodiment, the user can select a relationship in the room and "consist of" in the house. In this case, the system selects a database of all data (parts or products) that make up the selected room. 3 shows a selected room.

This three-dimensional drawing may be one of various types or layouts, as shown in FIGS.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 3, this representation is a conventional three-dimensional representation of assembled objects, which is referred to as an “in-place layout”. In the embodiment of Figure 3, the object is a house.

The various second data objects are separated in an exploded perspective view, the layout is exploded along a predetermined line, the direction of this line being selected by the user, and this representation is referred to as an "in-line layout". . This layout is exploded along a predetermined direction from a predetermined point, such as the center of the represented assembly or component. This layout allows the user to easily identify and select various second data objects. A representation with such a linear layout is shown in FIG. 8.

As in the embodiment of Fig. 4, the second data object is distributed over a disc or circle so that a disc layout is obtained, which facilitates understanding of this model and facilitates the selection of other data. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the user has selected a relationship of “consisting of” the house of FIG. 3. The elements making up this house are displayed on the disc.

Another possible layout is a reduced layout of various components. For example, a two-dimensional layout of a three-dimensional reduced representation of an object can be used. This is illustrated in the representation of FIG. 5 showing various items of the living room of the house represented in FIGS. 3 and 4.

This layout is active. Therefore, when the user changes the layout or selects a predetermined layout, various objects gradually move. This helps to understand the location of the various objects.

The type of layout displayed to the user is preset or selected by the user. One advantageous solution allows the user to set the default type of view used in all displays. If a given layout is displayed, the user is allowed to change this default type layout to another type.

In addition, the three-dimensional representation of each part or product is precomputed. This reduces computing time. Precomputing a three-dimensional representation is possible for at least some representations that are expected to be used repeatedly in a database. This may be for example the fact of the three-dimensional representation of the subassembly. This dictionary computing representation is computed off the fly and stored for access by the system. If a certain three dimensional representation is to be displayed, first the computing task is performed if this three dimensional representation is retrieved from already stored representations and there is no representation to be displayed.

In step 18 of this process, the user selects one of the displayed second data and the second relationship. The second relationship is the same as the first relationship, which may be a default choice. Also, the second relationship may be different from the first relationship. Thus, step 18 is similar to step 12, but in step 18 the selection for the three-dimensional representation displayed to the user is performed directly.

In step 20, as in step 14, the third data associated with the selected second data through the selected second relationship is retrieved and identified. In step 22, the three-dimensional representation of the third data is presented to the user according to the selected layout.

6 illustrates an embodiment of user selection of a second data and a second relationship. In this embodiment, in step 16, the view of FIG. 4 is displayed to the user. The user selects the same relationship of living room and "consisting of". 6 shows the three-dimensional relationship displayed in step 22. As in the view of FIG. 4, the view of FIG. 6 shows a layout in which data is distributed on a disk or circle. Large circle 40 is the same as that displayed in FIG. The smaller circle 42 represents the second relationship. The view of FIG. 6 allows the user to immediately understand the various relationships between the displayed objects. This is ensured by the fact that the selected relationships are represented graphically on the three-dimensional layout displayed to the user. More specifically, the view shows a graphical representation of the relationships between the objects representing the objects.

7 illustrates another example of user selection of the second data and the second relationship. In this example, in step 16, the view of FIG. 4 is displayed to the user. In step 18, the user selects the floor 44 of the living room and the relationship of "in contact with". The view generated in FIG. 7 shows various data or objects in contact with the selected floor in a "disc" layout.

8 shows another embodiment of a layout. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the displayed object is laid out linearly along the axis selected by the user. Specifically, the displayed objects are distributed over the axis selected by the user and stored along this axis, for example to use the center position of the box defining the boundaries of these objects in the assembly to store the objects. The view of FIG. 8 allows the user to intuitively understand the assembly of the various displayed objects. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the same object as in the embodiment of FIG. 7 is displayed across the horizontal line.

After step 22, the process is cycled to step 18. This means that the user reselects some data on the displayed three-dimensional view and reselects a new relationship to display the new image.

This process allows the user to graphically navigate the data contained in the database while using various relationships in the database. Compared to prior art solutions where only available relationships are "consisting of", the present invention enables navigation without prior knowledge of the database structure. Thus, some data (some objects) in this database are easily found by the user of the system.

In addition, the three-dimensional view displayed to the user includes a graphical representation of the relationships. Compared to prior art solutions where "consisting of" relationships actually appear in separate trees, the present invention allows the user to intuitively understand the various relationships in the database.

The present invention can be performed in addition to an existing database system such as a PLM solution. Possible implementations of the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 9-14.

9 is a schematic diagram of a software architecture used to carry out the present invention, which includes a single client, database server 56 and a vault server. The client includes a navigation engine 50 that manages the user interface and controls the components 52, 58, 64. This navigation engine allows the user to select an object, a relationship and, if available, the type of layout or view to display this object. In addition, the navigation engine provides a common type of query available in a PLM system.

9 shows query engine 52, database client 54, and database server 56. The query engine 52 is controlled by the navigation engine 50, which builds database statements in accordance with user commands and sends these constructed database statements to the database client 54. Query engine 52 also manages query results received from database client 54.

Database client 54 manages database server connections. This client receives a query from query engine 52 and sends this query to database server 56. This client receives the query results from the database server 56 and sends these results to the query engine 52.

Database server 56 receives queries from several database clients, such as client 54, and provides these queries. The database server is typically a correlation database and can be implemented using a solution available from IBM under the reference name DB2 or available from Oracle. This database can also be an object or an application server that accesses an XML database or database. This application server provides processing (asynchronously or at run time) for advanced queries (approximate queries, spatial queries, etc.).

In addition to the additional graphical navigation functionality available to the user within the navigation engine 50, the components 52, 54, 56 will be the same as those used in the PLM solution and need not be different from the correlation database in the art. Thus, these components are no longer described.

9 shows a vault server 62 that stores and provides representations of objects contained in a database, in other words, the vault server is used as a representation repository. This vault server 62 can be a file server, so that the representation can be stored in various files. This vault server can also be implemented by the database server using, for example, a "blob (binary language object)" store. It also uses proxy technology and / or cache technology. The representations of objects stored within this vault server may exist in a variety of formats, such as boundary definition boxes, polygons, bitmap images, vector images, subdivision surfaces, or any other format more commonly known in the art. As will be described below, it is advantageous to store various formats in the bolt server in order to enable incremental loading of the surface.

This vault server is addressed by the vault client 60. This vault client allows the client to address the vault server to retrieve the representation of the object. 9 shows a representation loader 58. This representation loader 58 queries the vault server 62 via the vault client 60 to obtain a representation of the object to be displayed to the user. Representation loader 58 also manages representation incremental loading upon receipt of a representation from vault client 60.

Visualization engine 64 manages the representations displayed to the user. This engine addresses display driver 66 which manages display hardware, which in most cases is a graphics card. To display a representation on display hardware, one can use hardware accelerated through OpenGL drivers or using Microsoft Direct 3D or DirectX.

10 is a flowchart of a display building process in accordance with the present invention. This process uses the software architecture shown in FIG. In steps 70-78, selecting the first data and the first correlation, the system displays the three-dimensional representation of the object. In step 80, the user selects an object and a relationship. Then, as shown, the process of FIG. 10 loops to step 72 to build a new view to be displayed to the user.

More specifically, in step 70, a query is built and a layout type is selected. This is done as described above with reference to step 12 of FIG. Query and layout type selection is made possible by the user interface of the navigation engine 50 of FIG. The layout type may be one of various view types illustrated with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7.

In step 72, the database is queried to obtain the attributes of the object that match the query constructed in step 70. In the architecture of FIG. 9, this step is performed by the navigation engine 50, the query engine 52, the database client 54 and the database server 56. As a result of step 72, a set of attributes of the object that need to be displayed is provided.

In step 74, the vault server is queried to obtain various representations of the objects that need to be displayed. In the architecture of FIG. 9, this step is performed by the navigation engine 50, the presentation loader 58, the vault client 60 and the vault server 62. As a result of step 74, a set of representations corresponding to the various objects to be displayed in the selected layout is provided.

In step 76, the representation is laid out in 3D space according to the selected layout and information retrieved from the database server. In the architecture of FIG. 9, this is performed by the navigation engine 50 and the visualization engine 64. This laid out representation is displayed to the user by display driver 66 in step 78.

This process then cycles through steps 74,76,78 to incrementally load the representation from a small amount of poor form to a large amount of good form. For example, prior to loading a polygonal representation of an object, the bounding box representation of the object may be loaded first. You can also stream these representations. This can provide the user with an almost instantaneous representation of the object, i.e., this representation has a rather poor quality first, but its quality improves over time. As a result, a more complete representation of better quality is provided to the user without having to wait for a long time for such a representation. You can load a representation as a background task using multi-threading or asynchronous inputs / outputs. This solution allows you to prioritize database queries so that navigation within the database does not interfere with user activity inside the database.

The loop through steps 74, 76 and 78 stops when the best rich representation is loaded and displayed to the user.

Also, the loop through these steps is stopped when the user selects one of the displayed objects and relationships, which step is represented in FIG. 10 with reference numeral 80, which step is in step 18 of FIG. Corresponds. The process then recycles to step 72, where the database server is queried again.

The process of FIG. 10 and the architecture of FIG. 9 use a vault server that stores various pre-computed data representations.

11 and 12 are schematic diagrams of client and network hardware architectures, adapted to carry out the present invention. 11 includes a client workstation. This workstation includes a processing unit 90, a RAM 92 and a workstation internal communication bus 94 that enables access to this RAM. The workstation further includes a graphics processing unit 96 and associated video RAM 98. Disk controller 100 manages access to mass memory devices, such as hard drive 102. Network adapter 104 manages access to network 106.

In operation, the various client components of FIG. 9 are processed and executed within the CPU 90. Network adapter 104 is used by vault client 60 to access vault server 62 on network 106 and by database client 54 to access database server 56 on network 106. Used. Disk controller 100 is used by the vault client to create a cache of representations on local large memory device 102, which improves the performance of frequently used representations. Display driver 106 supplies a layout of representations to video RAM 98, which representations are displayed by GPU 96.

Query engine 52 processes the query and stores the result in RAM 92. The representation loader 58 processes the working format of the representation and stores it in the RAM 92. The stored representation is used by the display driver 66 and transmitted to the display driver 66 as described with reference to step 76.

12 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture for carrying out the present invention, wherein the architecture of FIG. 12 enables navigation of various users with the help of conventional vault servers and conventional database servers that generally provide an accessible representation database. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, two local area networks 110 and 112 are connected within a wide area network 114. 12 shows a database 116 and a mask vault 118 used for access from the LAN 110, 112 and shown within the WAN 114. The first LAN 110 includes two clients 120, 122 and a proxy vault 112. The second LAN 112 includes two clients 126, 128 and a proxy vault 130. Master vault 118 is replicated within each proxy vault 124,130 to optimize the WAN bandwidth range.

In operation, a client in one of the LANs 110, 112 accesses the database 116 via the WAN 114. Clients 120 and 122 in first LAN 110 access proxy vault 124 to obtain a representation, and clients 126 and 128 in second LAN 112 access proxy vault 130 to obtain a representation. do. This exemplary operation assumes that a query to the database 116, which is mostly a text query as described above with reference to the PLM solution, may be provided within the WAN. Thus, the WAN has sufficient bandwidth to provide a request for the database 116. Since database 116 is updated by any one of the clients, the solution of FIG. 12 is simpler than managing data updates within the various database proxies. The operation of FIG. 12 optimizes WAN bandwidth usage by replicating vault server 118 into proxy vaults 124 and 130. This is advantageous because the representation of the data typically has a larger size than the database information and the representations do not need to be precomputed and updated as opposed to the database information.

The invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments described with reference to the drawings. Importantly, the terms "first data", "second data", "third data" or "first relationship", "second relationship" in FIG. 2 are used for clarity of explanation and data and relationships. It does not limit practically.

Embodiments of a view are provided in FIGS. 3-8. Other layout embodiments may be used. 9 and 11 and 12 provide a preferred architecture, and other software or hardware solutions may be used.

The present invention provides a solution that allows a user to navigate a correlation database representing a modeled object, in particular a database of products within a product lifecycle management system, which solution is user friendly and allows the user to easily and intuitively locate the product. Enable to find and display.

1 is an illustration of an embodiment of a display in a prior art system.

2 is a flow chart of a process according to the present invention.

3-8 are diagrams of embodiments of views displayed in the process of FIG.

9 is a schematic diagram of a software architecture usable for carrying out the present invention.

10 is a flow diagram of a process for building a three-dimensional representation to carry out the present invention.

11 is a schematic diagram of a client workstation adapted to carry out the invention.

12 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture adapted for carrying out the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

50: navigation engine 52: query engine

54: database client 56: database server

58: Express Loader 60: Bolt Client

62: Vault Server 64: Visualization Engine

66: display driver

Claims (11)

A method of navigating in a database comprising a data set and a relationship between the data in the set, the method comprising: Selecting 12 the first data and the first relationship, Searching for second data related to the first data according to the first relationship (14), Displaying (16) a three-dimensional representation of an object represented by said second data, Selecting (18) a second relationship with one of the displayed objects, Identifying (20) identifying data indicative of the selected object from the second data and searching for third data associated with the identified second data according to the second relationship; Displaying (22) a three dimensional representation of an object represented by the third data. The method of claim 1, And the data set in the database includes data representing a three dimensional modeled object. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Wherein the displayed three-dimensional representation comprises a graphical representation of a relationship between data indicative of the displayed object among the displayed objects. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, Selecting the first data and the first relationship includes selecting a first layout, And the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the second data is a representation in the first layout. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The step of selecting one of the displayed objects and the second relationship comprises selecting a second layout, And the three-dimensional representation of the object represented by the third data is a representation in the second layout. The method according to claim 4 or 5, The layout is An in-line layout in which the objects are exploded along a line and represented in a perspective view, In-place layout, An in-disk layout in which the objects are distributed and disassembled on a disk and represented in a perspective view, and  A database navigation method, selected from 2D layouts of 3D reduced representations. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, And the layouts are animated. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, The relationships are The relationship of "is composed of", The relationship of "where used", The relationship of "in contact with", "In clash with" relationship and A method of database navigation, comprising two or more of "impact with" relationships. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, Computing and storing a three-dimensional representation of the object. A data set representing a three-dimensional modeled object, A set of relationships between the data, One or more three-dimensional representations of the modeled object, and A routine for navigating and visualizing the one or more three-dimensional representations of a modeled object. A computer program, which implements a method according to claim 1.